Emma sat on a hospital bed as her doctor finished stitching her cut on her head.
"Alright, Emma, good as new. I suggest getting plenty of rest and try not to do any quick movements or anything." the doctor instructed after he was done. "Now, keep this on the cut while we wait for your family to arrive." he said, handing her an ice pack.
After Damon walked away with Emma in his arms, he dropped her off at the hospital, informing the nurses of her condition. Though he did not stay for long, only to make sure that she was being taken care of before he left. And that was the last time she saw anyone she knew. So after the doctor left, she got up and walked around to stretch her legs after sitting down for so long. As she walked, she noticed Matt sitting on a chair, staring off into space.
"Matt?" she called, scaring the football player out of his daze. She sat down next to him. "Why are you here? What's wrong?"
Matt shook his head. "It's Caroline, Em." Emma's eye's widened. "She- we were driving and Tyler heard this noise."
"A noise?" Emma asked, getting suspicious as to why Tyler somehow was affected by the device.
Matt rubbed his face. "And he got this migraine or something. And he lost control of the car. And I thought that Caroline was fine," Matt explained. Emma looked down at her hands, scared to hear what else happened. "And then- and then she wasn't, so. . ." Matt trailed off, not sure how to continue.
Emma brushed tears that were falling out her eyes with her one hand. "Don't worry. Everything is going to be fine. I mean, this is Caroline we're talking about." Emma said, trying to see the bright side of this. Though it was no use as more tears fell.
"How's Caroline?" They heard, and turned to see Bonnie standing next to them with a worried expression.
Matt opened his mouth to answer but couldn't get any words out. Emma stood up, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, I'll tell her." Emma grabbed onto Bonnie's arm and pulled her aside to where Matt couldn't hear their conversation.
Bonnie noticed the young girl's tear stained face. "Don't tell me that-"
"She's not." Emma interrupted. "All I know is that They were in an accident with Tyler and that Caroline was hurt kind of bad." Bonnie's eyes formed tears. "Listen, Bonnie, there's something else. Matt said that- that Tyler heard a noise."
Bonnie furrowed her eyebrows. "A noise?" She sniffled. "How? He's not a vampire."
Emma shrugged. "I don't know. That's all I know." Emma said, putting her free arm under the arm that was holding the ice pack in a tempt to cross her arms.
Bonnie noticed the ice pack. "How's your head?" she asked.
Emma looked down at her feet. "It hurts."
"Em-"
"Don't, Bonnie." Emma said, feeling a new found anger inside her. She hadn't thought about what happened that night till the moment she started talking to the Bennett witch. Bonnie lied to all of them. Because of that, Damon and herself were almost burned alive. And she wasn't supposed to be there in the first place! "Just, don't, okay?" Emma turned and walked away, leaving Bonnie by herself.
"Emma."
Emma had been in the waiting room after being told more about Caroline's current condition from Sheriff Forbes when she turned to see her sister walking up to her.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Elena asked, holding onto Emma's elbows. Emma shrugged and clutched the ice pack tighter. Elena furrowed her eyebrows. "What's wrong?"
Emma looked at her sister with sad eyes. "You heard about Caroline, right?" Elena nodded in response. "Well, uh, they said that she's weak. And that they don't know if she's going to make it."
Elena stared at her in disbelief. "What?" she asked as Emma wrapped her arms around her. The older Gilbert noticed Bonnie not that far away. When Emma pulled away, Elena went up to Bonnie. "Is there something you can do? Like a spell or something?" she asked desperately.
Bonnie was about to answer when Damon came out from behind a corner. "She doesn't know how. Do you?" he said, stepping closer.
Bonnie shook her head. "No. I don't."
"No, you don't." Damon continued as Emma and Elena sighed in defeat. "Because it took Emily years to lean a spell like that."
Bonnie gave Damon an annoyed look. "Oh, well, I can take down a vampire. That spell was easy to learn."
Damon turned away from the witch to face Emma and Elena. "I can give Caroline some blood."
"What? No, way." Elena said, quick to shoot down his idea.
"No, no, no, just enough to heal her. She'll be safe in the hospital, and it'll be out of her system in a day. She'll be better, Elena." Damon reasoned.
Elena crossed her arms. "It's too risky. I can't agree to that."
"Elena." Emma said, earning the attention of all three. "Let him do it." Elena opened her mouth to protest but Emma stopped her again. "Do you want Caroline to die knowing that there was some sort of way to save her?" she asked. Elena looked over at Bonnie for some sort of support but Bonnie nodded, agreeing with Emma.
"Do it." Bonnie said to Damon.
"If I do this, you and me," He gestured to the two of them. "call a truce." He gave her a smug smile.
"No." Bonnie said, making the smile fall of his face. "But you'll do it anyway. For Elena"
Emma looked at Bonnie in confusion. Why would Damon do it for Elena? He doesn't care about anything, much less about what happens to her sister. She heard Elena sigh and looked at her to see her nodded lightly. Bonnie walked away.
The young girl watched her leave but when she looked back at Damon, she saw him doing something weird with his face. "What?"
Damon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can you walk away please? I need to have a grownup conversation with Elena."
"Bu-"
"Go." Damon enforced, pointing down the hall.
Emma groaned and walked off, strangling Damon in her head. She was about 25 feet away from the two when she saw Jenna run up to her.
"Oh, my god, Emma. Are you okay?" she asked, lifting the ice pack up slowly and scrunching her nose at the stitches.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Jenna. Just hit my head on a rock when I fell." Emma said, rocking on the back of her feet.
Jenna shook her head. "You gave me a huge scare, you know that right? I mean everyone is giving me a scare today, first you, then Elena's call about John an-" Jenna rambled on but Emma stopped her when she heard about John.
"Wait, what happened to John." she asked.
Jenna sighed. "Someone broke into the house and John was hurt, really bad." Emma was shocked. Sure, no one liked John but he was still family and these days, Emma cherished family a lot. "Come on, I need to talk to Elena." Jenna held Emma's hand and they walked over to Elena where she seemed confused about something. "Elena, I came as soon as I got your message." Jenna said. "How's John?"
"Where have you been?" Elena asked.
"At the fire department, I had to fill out a report. I told you earlier." Jenna responded, though looked at Elena like she was a little crazy.
"No, you didn't." Elena stated.
"Yes, I did." Jenna argued.
"No, Jenna, you didn't."
"Yes, I did." Jenna said firmly.
There was silence for sometime before Damon groaned. "Ohh. Mmm, you gotta be kidding me." he said, looking at the three. He turned and left without another word.
Elena went after him and Emma made the same move but Jenna stopped her. "No, missy, I have to talk to your doctor and you are coming with me." Jenna said.
"But, Jenna! I've been here for like ever. I want to leave, please!" Emma begged, slowly inching toward Damon and Elena's retreating forms.
Jenna sighed. "Fine, go."
Emma smiled and ran off after them. "Hey, wait." Emma called.
Elena turned and saw Emma coming. "Em-"
"I'm 13 years old, Elena, not a toddler who's still learning how to walk." Emma said, walking past Elena and out the hospital door with Damon. They got in the vampire's car and drove to the Gilbert house. When they walked in, they saw Stefan on the floor, grunting in pain.
"Stefan?" Elena said.
Stefan got up, breathing heavily, and looked at Elena. "Elena."
"W-what happened?" Emma asked, concerned.
"Katherine happened." Damon responded, looking around the room.
"So what you're saying is that Elena's evil vampire doppelganger, Katherine, is here in Mystic Falls and decided to trick people into thinking that she's Elena." Emma recapped after hearing Stefan's encounter with the said vampire. Elena had gone upstairs to have a well deserved talk with Jeremy and the young Gilbert and Salvatore brothers went into the kitchen to talk.
"Apparently. What I'd like to know is why. Did she say what she wanted?" Damon asked Stefan who was pacing back and forth.
"No."
Damon glanced at his brother before looking back at Emma. "Woman certainly knows how to make an entrance."
Stefan stopped in front of the island, which Emma had been sitting on top of. "She said she fooled one of us at least."
Emma furrowed her eyebrows. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"She pretended to be Elena, too, when I showed up earlier tonight." Damon answered, though it seemed like he was holding back on some information.
Emma heard footsteps coming. "I told Jeremy." Elena said.
"Finally," Emma muttered, learning a look from Damon. "Well, I'm right. Jeremy had every right to know everything as I did. Keeping him in the dark was a horrible idea." she said, crossing her arms.
Elena nodded. "Yes, you're right. I'm can't lie to him anymore."
Stefan walked up to Elena. "Are you alright?" he asked, rubbing Elena's forearms.
Elena shook her head. "No, I'm not. I thought that with all the tomb vampires gone, things would get better."
"I know. We all did." Stefan said.
"Oh, my god." Emma said, as she realized a crucial piece of information. Everyone looked at her, wondering about her sudden outburst. "Guys," she began. "Katherine was invited in. She can come in here at anytime. What are we going to do?"
"Move." Damon said, smirking at the end.
"Yes, Damon, we'll move. Now, what's your plan on how to explain to Jenna about the sudden need to leave." Emma retorted, rolling her eyes.
"Listen, Katherine wants Elena dead, there's zero you can do about it, she would be dead. But she's not. Clearly, she has other plans." Damon said.
Elena sat down on the dining room table as Stefan stood behind her. "Right, and we need to find out what those other plans are and not provoke her in the process."
Emma swung her legs back and forth, and rested her cheek on her shoulder as she glanced at Damon. "Hey, Damon, what happened when you thought Katherine was Elena?" she asked.
Damon looked at Emma as if he wanted to duck tape her mouth closed, which in his mind he really wanted to do. His eyes went over at Stefan and Elena who were waiting for his response. "To risk another. . . frown line encroaching on a very crowded forehead." Emma sighed at Damon's attempt in stalling. "We. . . kissed."
Uh oh, Emma thought as her eyes widened. She quickly looked over at Stefan to see that he was trying to keep his cool, though it seemed it like he was having a little trouble. "And you thought it was me?" Elena asked, crossing her arms on the table.
"What do you mean, you kissed?" Stefan inquired.
Damon's probably going to make some sort of jo- Emma began to think when Damon started talking. "Well, you know, when 2 lips pucker," There it is. "and they. . ." Damon made puckering noises. Then in a flash, Stefan vamped over to Damon, but the older vampire had seen it coming and vamped over to Stefan's previous spot. "Don't be obvious, Stefan."
Stefan made a move to go at him again but Emma quickly jumped do from the island and stood in front of him at the same time Elena stood up from her chair. "Stefan, he kissed Katherine. Not me." Elena said. She turned around and looked at Damon. "I wouldn't do that."
The small smirk on Damon's face had vanished when Elena said those words, and Emma felt bad for him. "Can we please get back to the matter at hand, guys?" Emma said, quickly changing the subject before Stefan or Damon could do something stupid.
"Later." Stefan told Damon, who nodded in agreement.
"John must know something. There has to be a reason why Katherine tried to kill him." Elena said.
"She's Katherine." Damon said, shooting down at Elena's idea of talking to John. He leaned against the kitchen door's frame. "She loves to play games, and you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to find out what she's up to before she wants you to know."
Stefan stepped up. "No, actually, Elena's right. John could know something through Isobel." Damon's face had a sour look. "Your mother, she was in touch with Katherine, so maybe we can go to the hospital. And talk." Stefan suggested.
"I got a better idea." Damon stated, sounding bored.
Emma rolled her eyes. "And what's that, oh smart one?"
"I'm just going to ignore the bitch. Whoops, language." Damon said, covering his mouth, though his eyes glinted with mischief. "See ya."
"Is that smart?" Elena asked, worried about his plan.
Damon crossed his arms. "If Katherine thinks she's being ignored, it'll lure her out. She'll make a move." He smirked.
"Yeah, then what?" Stefan asked.
Damon thought for a moment before replying. "Stake her, rip her head off. Something poetic, we'll see." Damon started to walk away. "Oh, and Emma, I'm picking you up tomorrow so be ready by 10:30."
Emma furrowed her eyebrows. "What? Why?"
Damon slightly turned around. "Because, big sister would not want you to be at the investigation with John, in case things get rough. So I'm taking the liberty in driving you to the Mayor's memorial get together(A/N I have no idea what to call it)." Emma looked at Elena, to see if what he said was true and sure enough, Elena was giving her the 'I'm sorry' look. Emma scoffed and turned back to Damon to see him smirking once again. "10:30." he said and he left.
Of course Elena doesn't want her to come. It's all the time. Whatever happens, Elena always tells her to stay away. It's her freaking birthday. She's not a little girl anymore. Emma started to walk away. "I'm going to bed." she mumbled and went upstairs. Before she went to her room, though, she stopped at Jeremy's room. The door was opened and she saw him laying down, staring up at the ceiling. She hesitated before lightly knocking on the door, and his head went up at the sound. "Hi."
"Hey, Em. What's wrong?" he asked, moving to sit on the edge of his bed.
Emma rubbed her arm and looked down at her shoes. "I, uhh, heard about what happened earlier." she said, referring to when he tried to kill himself to become a vampire.
Jeremy played with his hands. "Oh."
The youngest Gilbert walked into the room and stood in front of him. "Why'd you do it, Jeremy?"
"Don't start." Jeremy snapped. "I already got lectured by Stefan and Elena. I know it was wrong, okay?"
Emma closed her eyes as angry tears were forming and she clutched the end of the skirt of her dress. "I don't think you do." She looked him in the eye, surprising him. "You could have died, Jeremy. And I ca-" She choked up. "I can't loose anyone else that's close to me. Mom a-and dad are already gone and John's in the hospital. Caroline might not even make it. I don't want to loose you, too." She felt arms wrap around her and she was pulled in. Emma broke down and sobbed into Jeremy's chest.
"Emma." She heard Jeremy say. "You are not going to loose me." Jeremy pulled away and grabbed Emma's face with his hands, using his fingers to wipe away the tears. "I promise. I'm not going anywhere." Emma sniffled while nodding and they hugged again. "Go change and I'll tuck you in like old times." Jeremy said, smiling at her.
She left and changed, and Jeremy entered her room. After he made sure she was comfortable in her bed, Jeremy leaned down and kissed Emma on the forehead. "Goodnight, Jer." she said, watching him walk away.
Jeremy turned around and smile. "Goodnight." He turned off the light and left Emma in her room to sleep.
"Okay, so I'm going to go and talk to Carol and Sheriff Forbes real quick. Stay here." Damon said, leaving Emma next to the snack table. Emma nodded, and popped a grape in her mouth. She glanced around the room when she saw Taylor outside the door, greeting people who came into the house. When Damon and Emma arrived at the Lockwood's house, she only waved as she entered the house, not really saying anything. So when the opportunity came, she walked over to him and smiled.
"Hey, Tyler." she said.
Tyler looked down at her since he was pretty much towering over her. "Hey, Emma. I'm glad you made it." he said.
Emma nodded awkwardly. "Listen, I know you've probably heard this way to many times today, but I wanted to say that I'm sorry about you're dad, he was a. . . great guy." she said, though the last part was partly true. Mayor Lockwood could be a total jerk from time to time.
Tyler chuckled. "Thanks. Just how sudden it was is still hard to, uh, process." he said.
Instantly, the image of the Mayor's dead body came to Emma's mind. She felt a shiver go down her spine. "Yeah, it really was. Well, I should go back inside. See you later." she said, walking away as she talked.
"Bye."
Emma went passed the snack table and outside, forgetting about waiting for Damon. But when she was outside, she noticed Elena standing there, gazing at the lawn. "Elena." she said, catching her off guard.
"Oh, hey, E-emma." she said, looking at Emma weirdly.
There was something different about Elena's appearance that Emma was trying to pinpoint. She noticed how curly Elena's hair was, it's very rare that she would curly it. And the clothes seemed out of Elena's character, she never wore anything that would be too flashy, more like casual outfits. Emma decided to experiment, already knowing where her thoughts were leading to.
"Um, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what happened yesterday." Emma began, seeing how 'Elena' was listening to her talk. "It's just that yesterday was such a big day and it just got. . . ruined. And I didn't mean to snap at you." Emma crossed her arms and looked down, acting sad.
"No, no, Em, it's alright. There's nothing to be sorry for." 'Elena' said, putting on a small smile. "Of course it was a big day yesterday, I mean, Founder's Day. It's huge and probably how it ended was bad but I don't blame you for getting frustrated." Bingo. Everyone knew it wasn't just Founder's Day yesterday.
Emma nodded. "Okay, we-" there was a buzzing noise coming from Emma that made her stop talking. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her new phone that Damon got for her as a safety precaution and a birthday gift. It was a simple phone, nothing too fancy. The Gilbert looked at the Caller ID to see Elena's name. She quickly shoved the phone back in her pocket, after hitting end, and looked back at 'Elena', who was watching Emma's every move. Emma smiled. "I need to go. Bye, Elena." she said, sort of rushed and turned to leave, when a hand grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back.
"I don't think so. . . Emma." 'Elena' sneered in Emma's ear. She dragged the girl to the corner of the porch and held the young girl in place.
"Let me go, Katherine." Emma said, glaring up at the vampire.
Katherine smirked. "You know how I am." she stated, ignoring part of what Emma said.
"I knew who you were the moment you turned around." Emma shot. She needed to be careful. This is a vampire that she's talking to, who can easily snap her neck in a millisecond.
"Smart girl. I was able to fool so many people, but I guess it's a lot harder when it comes to sisters." Katherine said, still smirking down at her. Emma's eyes sightly widened. "Yes, I know that you're Elena's sister. I have been putting the puzzle together, piece by piece."
Emma glared at the vampire again. "Let go of me." she demanded.
Katherine rose an eyebrow. "Wow, you are feisty. Isobel was right about you." Emma made an attempt to runaway but Katherine tightened her grip and hissed at her with her fangs out, making Emma shrink back.
Suddenly, Katherine's grip was gone and she wasn't in front of Emma anymore. Emma blinked and saw that Katherine vamped away from her as a group of people walked by. She took this opportunity to run off, leaving Katherine on the porch. She ran through the house, looking around frantically. Her toughness was completely gone and was replaced with fear. She pushed past people and went out the front door, looking around the patio. She sighed in relief when she saw Damon and the real Elena talking to each other. "Elena." she called out and she ran up to Elena, hugging her tightly from behind.
Elena lifted her arms up and looked behind herself to see Emma. "Em? What's wrong?"
Emma left go of Elena and stood between Damon and her sister. "We have a problem." she said, earning confused looks.
"Are you okay, Stefan?" Emma asked Stefan as she watched Elena clean the blood off of his wound he received from Katherine.
"Yeah, don't worry, it'll heal soon." Stefan said. Elena made eye contact with Stefan, giving him a look. "I was trying to figure her out. I was playing along, I let her get to me."
Emma noticed Damon walking up to them. "We tried to track her, but she's gone." He saw Stefan's wound. "Ooh, cover up, Fabio. We got a crazy ex on the loose." Elena pulled his shirt down as Damon put his hands on his hips. "Better watch out, looks like Katherine's trying to steal your guy." Damon said, smiling at the end.
Elena looked at Damon and then Stefan, feeling down. "That's not what's happening." Stefan defended.
"Isn't it? I mean, it's only fair, since I. . . went after your girl." Damon said. Emma rolled her eyes, of course he's brings up what happened last night.
"Emma and I are going to go check on Jenna and Jeremy. Let us know when you guys are done." Elena said, getting up from the bench and taking Emma with her back inside the house. As they walked, Elena couldn't stop thinking about something. "Emma," Emma 'mmh'ed in response. "How much was Katherine like me?"
Emma snorted. "Are you that worried about that?" she asked. Elena gave her a look, making the girl sigh. "Not very much. Body, yes. Face, yes. Attitude, no. Hesitated too much. Aaand she had curly hair. You are definitely the better doppelganger."
Elena laughed, feeling a bit better. "Thanks." She put an arm around Emma and they walked into the Lockwood house.
It was dark out when the Gilbert family entered their home.
"Alright, bedtime." Jenna said, throwing her keys on the table near the door. Jeremy and Elena already went to their rooms, leaving Jenna and Emma downstairs.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Have you forgotten? I'm 13 now, a preteen. I don't have a bedtime." she said, sitting on the couch and crossing her legs.
Jenna faked a laugh. "Ha, ha, ha. Funny. Bed, now." Jenna pointed up the stairs.
Emma groaned loudly. "Ugh, fine. Gosh." She moved slowly towards the stairs, bothering Jenna. Nonetheless, Emma ended up in her room and she changed out of her clothes into her pajamas. She walked out and made her way to the bathroom when she saw Damon and Elena in her sister's room. Apparently, Jeremy heard the commotion and went to the room as well. "Hey, is everything alright?" she asked, entering the room with Jeremy behind her.
Elena broke from Damon's grasp. "Nothing. Go back to bed, guys." Elena said.
Damon looked at Jeremy, then Emma, and back at Elena. "He wants to be a vampire." Damon stated, pointing to Jeremy. He vamped over to Jeremy and slammed him into the wall, hands around the throat.
Emma covered her mouth with her hands. "No! Damon, leave him alone!" she cried.
"You want to shut out the pain? It's the easiest thing in the world." Damon started to say. "The part of you that cares, it just goes away! All you have to do is flip the switch and snap!" Damon snapped Jeremy's neck. Jeremy's body fell to the floor, limp.
Emma's eyes widened and she let out a gasp. She stared at his body, froze in place. Emma saw Elena kneel down next to him, saying something but all Emma could hear was a ringing noise. He promised her. He said he wasn't leaving her. He promised. Emma fell to her knees as tears flowed out of her eyes. "Jeremy, no. No, no, no. Not you, too." she said as more and more tears flowed out. "Not you, too." she said quietly, closing her eyes and resting her head on his chest.
"Emma." She heard Elena say. "Emma, look." Emma slowly lifted her head up to see Elena holding up Jeremy's hand, pointing at the ring on his finger. "He's okay. Emma, he's okay." Elena wrapped her arms around Emma's small frame and new tears formed, tears of relief. Emma reached out and held Jeremy's hand and the sisters sat of the floor, waiting for Jeremy to wake up. At some point, Elena called Stefan and he stood by the door, hands on his hips.
"He saw the ring, that's why he did it. He knew." Stefan said, trying to reason with the heart broken sisters.
Emma felt some anger forming inside her. "He didn't see the ring." Elena said.
Stefan shook his head. "It's Katherine. She got under his skin. She undid everything that was good about him."
"There is nothing good about him. Not anymore. He wants to be hated. He got his wish." Emma sneered. She tightened the hold on Jeremy's hand.
"I hate him, Stefan." Elena said as she started to cry again. Stefan walked over and rubbed both girl's backs.
Just then, Jeremy woke up with a gasp as he looked around everywhere. "Stefan is he okay? Is he okay?" Emma asked, watching the vampire look at Jeremy's face to find anything wrong.
"He's okay." Stefan confirmed, trying to calm Jeremy down. "Shh, you're okay."
Jeremy was breathing heavily. "Damon killed me."
"Sh, it's okay." Elena reassured as she kissed Jeremy's head.
Emma squeezed Jeremy's hand and started to cry again. She had her brother back. But there shouldn't have been a reason for him to come back. He shouldn't have been dead in the first place. It's all Damon's fault. He caused this to happen. He wanted Jeremy dead. I hate him, too, Elena. Emma thought. I hate him, too.